Conspiracy Theories Bloom In Arab and Iranian Press

A program on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television network last week announced that Israel “murdered” a Lebanese parliament member, Pierre Gemayel, ” with the help of “four American experts” who work at Beirut’s airport. The announcement was quickly reported on by other Middle East press outlets, including Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.Conspiracy theories in the Arab and Iranian press regarding America, Israel, Jews, Christians, and Zionists have been extensively documented in this column. This year, the theories most cited focused on the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Holocaust, and the forces supposedly behind the strife in Iraq, Darfur, Lebanon, and elsewhere in the region.With the advent of the Internet and satellite TV, conspiracy theories originating in the Middle East are now easily spread throughout the Muslim world — from Turkey to Malaysia.In Iran, leading government and religious figures, who have absolute control of the press, have been behind some particularly nasty and outrageous conspiracy theories. The day before the fifth anniversary of September 11, the Iranian press was full of them.The head of the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., Muhammad Al-‘Asi, was on Iranian TV saying that the “American administration” was behind the attack, while Lebanese Shiite leader Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah blamed the Jews and some American powers.Many other Iranian conspiracies are extremely anti-Semitic. An adviser to President Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Ali Ramin, was quoted in a daily newspaper saying Jewish treachery was behind such ills as the plague, typhoid, AIDS, SARS, and bird flu.Conspiracies about “the Zionist regime” are also rampant in the Iranian press. IRIB reported that more than 10,000 Russian women are kidnapped each year and taken to Israel through Egypt by Zionists, and that each woman is sold for between $4,000 and $10,000.The Iranian news channel IRINN asserted that Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean “is a “Zionist conspiracy” by the company to exert cultural influence. Similarly, IRINN ran a special about “Zionist companies” such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Pepsi, which it claimed stands for “Pay Each Penny Save Israel.”The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency regarding reports on the “formation of terrorist squads in Brussels by Israel and certain European states for assassination” of Iranian dignitaries.Official Friday sermons are used by religious leaders in Iran to smear Jews, Christians, America, and Israel. On May 19, the Ayatollah Kashani was quoted by the Tehran Times blaming “the CIA” and “Zionists” for terrorist attacks within Iran, and in particular targets connected to its economy, universities, and science.The Iranians also try to influence the Muslim world to oppose American activity in Iraq, and they frequently make up things to tarnish America’s image. For example, IRIB reported on April 5 that “U.S. troops are distributing boobytrapped dolls among Iraqi children.”An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza, was quoted by the Iranian Student News Agency on September 6 stating that terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East “are being guided by the White House.”IRNA reported on November 27 that the “apparent discord among Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan is the fruit of a conspiracy by America and the Zionist regime.”The Iranian daily Keyhan claimed on November 15 that Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death because he knows many secrets about American activity in the Middle East and that “the neoconservatives have to silence him once and for all.”Conspiracies about alleged Israeli activity in Iraq are also common, such as an article titled “Mossad Assassins Targeting Iraqi Scientists” in the Tehran Times, which reported that “more than 2,500 Iraqi scientists over the past 3 years were killed by the Mossad.”Another report from IRIB said, “Zionists will be burying nuclear waste in Iraq,” which “is a threat to … the people living in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.” The report claimed American forces in August burned poisonous substances in Fallujah.Next week’s column will be devoted to the most disturbing conspiracies from the Arab and Turkish press.Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Conspiracy Theories Bloom In Arab and Iranian Press

Conspiracy Theories Bloom In Arab and Iranian Press

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